Ivan was born in Kharkov, Ukraine on 20 April 1989. He has always been fond of computer games, particularly Counter-Strike. Dota was the start of Ivan's esports career. Ivan has played for teams such as DTS, Natus Vincere, and Darer.

Artstyle began his Dota 2 career on Natus Vincere. In the summer of 2011 they competed in The International 2011. NaVi went undefeated until the grand finals and defeated EHOME 3-1 winning the $1,000,000 prize for first place. Artstyle left the team in the following weeks,[when?] and joined Darer.[1]

Darer attended The International 2012 where they placed equal last in the group stage. A few days later, on September 12 2012, Darer changed its entire roster, because of logistical and language issues, which left Artstyle without a team.[2]